Which to use
“pursuing” and “pushing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,598
- “pursuing” frequency rank
- #3,387
- “pushing” frequency rank
- 10985
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pursuing | pushing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pursue | present participle and gerund of push |
Where the eye mixes pursuing and pushing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pursuing runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against pushing's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pursuing and pushing
A purely visual mix-up. pursuing (/pəˈsjuː.ɪŋ/) and pushing (/ˈpʊʃɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pursuing is recorded at frequency rank #7,598, classified as averb, pronounced /pəˈsjuː.ɪŋ/. pushing is at rank #3,387, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpʊʃɪŋ/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 10985, this pair ranks #489,470 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pursuing vs pushing
Shared letters: ginpsu. Private to "pursuing": r. Private to "pushing": h.
"pursuing" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "pushing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pursuing" and "pushing" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pursuing" or "pushing"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pursuing" and "pushing" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pursuing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pushing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #489,470 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pursuing" and "pushing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "purring vs pursuing". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #489,470 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.